Removable floor and wall surface coverings

ABSTRACT

SUBFLOORS AND WALLS FOR EXAMPLE CAN BE COVERED WITH A SURFACE COVERING WHICH IS EASILY REMOVABLE AT A LATER TIME BY ADHERING A RELEASE COMPOSITION-COATED FLEXIBLE SHEET MATERIAL, FOR EXAMPLE, AN ELASTOMER-IMPREGNATED PAPER SHEET, RELEASE-COATED SIDE UP TO THE SUB-FLOOR OR WALL   AND THEN ADHESIVELY SECURING THE SURFACE COVERING TO THE RELEASE COATED SHEET.

Jan. 29, 1974 J. J. KUPITS 3,788,941

REMOVABLE FLOOR AND WALL SURFACE FLOOR AND WALL COVERINGS Original Filed Oct Bl, 1969 United States Patent 3,788,941 REMOVABLE FLOOR AND WALL SURFACE COVERINGS John J. Kupits, Newtown, Pa., assiguor to W. R. Grace & C0., Cambridge, Mass. Continuation of abandoned application Ser. No. 872,997, Oct. 31, 1969. This application Aug. 2, 1971, Ser. No.

Int. Cl. B32b 9/04 U.S. Cl. 161-182 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Subfioors and walls, for example, can be covered with a surface covering which is easily removable at a later time by adhering a release composition-coated flexible sheet material, for example, an elastomer-impregnated paper sheet, release-coated side up, to the sub-floor or wall and then adhesively securing the surface covering to the release coated sheet.

This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 872,997, filed Oct. 31, 1969, now abandoned.

This invention relates to a method of covering surfaces such as floors, walls, etc., the covering being easy and inexpensive to remove at a desired subsequent time.

Surface covering materials such as floor sheet goods and tiles are usually installed over a sub-floor by directly adhering the sheet or tile to the sub-floor with a suitable adhesive. Removal of such coverings at a later time is troublesome and time consuming. Quite often small portions of the covering remain adhered to the sub-floor and require scraping and sanding in order to be removed. Frequently the sub-floor is damaged from the scraping and sanding operation necessitating costly repairs.

I have found a method whereby such floor or other surface coverings can be suitably adhered to a sub-floor or other base yet can be easily removed at a later time when desired. In my method, a layer of flexible sheet material having a coating of a release composition on one side is first adhesively secured, release-coated side up, to the base to be covered. The desired surface covering is then adhesively secured to the release-coated sheet mate rial by spreading a suitable adhesive on the release coating first and then placing the surface covering on the adhesive layer. Obviously the adhesive can be applied to the surface covering and then the surface covering placed over the release coating or the adhesive can be applied to both the release coating and the surface covering. Thus, the surface covering is secured to the base yet, when desired, is easily lifted or peeled from the release coating, the adhesive preferentially adhering to the surface covering. A clean, even base which can be readily covered again is obtained with little effort and cost.

The invention is more fully understood when read in connection with the accompanying drawing which illustrates one embodiment of the present invention.

In the accompanying drawing which is a sectional view of a sub-floor covered in accordance with the method of the invention, a layer of adhesive 2 is troweled upon subfloor 1, and a flexible sheet of elastomer-impregnated paper 3, which has a release composition coating 4 on one side is laid upon the adhesive 2. A layer of adhesive 5, which may be the same adhesive as employed in adhesive layer 2, is then spread upon the release coating 4. The surface floor covering 6, for example, a sheet of linoleum, is placed upon adhesive layer 5 and the adhesive layers allowed to dry. Upon drying of the adhesive layers, the surface covering 6 can be peeled, as shown, with adhesive 5, preferentially adhering to surface covering 6.

3,788,941 Patented Jan. 29., 1974 Surface covering 6 may, for example, be a sheet or tile of rubber, linoleum as shown, polyvinyl chloride, asphalt, cork, ceramic, woven or non-woven bonded fibrous material, for example, carpeting, etc. The adhesive, 5, employed to bond the surface covering to the release coating can, for example, be any of the well-known adhesives employed generally to adhere surface coverings of the above type to base substrates such as sub-floors and Walls. Illustrative of such adhesives are the rubber or resin-based mastics with either water or alcoholic solvent vehicles, asphalt emulsions, asphalt cut backs, linoleum pastes, epoxy resin mastics, synthetic rubber emulsions, etc. The most suitable adhesive to be employed in a specific practice of the invention is generally determined by the particular surface covering to be adhered, and/or particular release coating employed. The adhesive employed to bond the release coated sheet material to the sub-floor may be any of the types mentioned above, the most suitable adhesive again generally being determined by the particular base to be covered or the particular release-coated flexible sheet material selected. I have obtained good results using SU 360, a butadiene-acrylonitrile copolymercontaining adhesive sold by Congoleum Industries, as the adhesive for layers 2 and 5.

The flexible release composition coated sheet material 3 may, in addition to paper, be a fibrous sheet of, for example, asbestos, or a flexible sheet of, for example, synthetic polymer such as polyethylene, metallic foil, etc. A cellulosic sheet, preferably saturated with an elastomer such as natural or synthetic rubber, butadiene copolymer, etc., in the conventional manner, is particularly preferred for use in my invention. Saturating or impregnating the sheet with elastomer increases the tear strength, burst strength, Wet strength and delamination resistance of the sheet. Thus the saturated sheet is easier to handle and install and is more resistant to penetration by imperfections in the sub-floor or wall and to swelling by water, for example, from water-containing adhesives. Moreover, the more delamination-resistant saturated sheet is, importantly, more resistant to separating when the surface covering is peeled off. In applications such as ground or below ground sub-floor covering, however, a more moistureresistant material such as an asbestos or cellulose-asbestos sheet may be more advantageously employd.

Of the release composition coatings suitable for the practice of the present invention, I have found that best results are obtained with coatings derived from silicone rubber polymers and water soluble Werner-type fatty acid-chromium complexes. Adhesive bonding with these preferred release coatings is suificiently strong such that the surface covering remains adhered to a desired extent even over an extended period of time, yet good release from the adhesive layer uniting the surface covering is obtained both initially and after a period of time. Silicone rubbers are silicones or siloxanes of such structure and molecular weight that they exhibit many of the properties of rubber. Particularly suitable silicone rubbers for the present invention are the organopolysiloxanes marketed by Dow Corning Corporation, Midland, Mich., under the trademark SYL-OFF 22 and SYL-OFF 23. These rubbers when used as release coatings are usually catalysed, for example, with a metal organic salt and then cured to form a flexible thermoset coating. Water-soluble Werner-type fatty acid chromium complexes are sold under the trademark Quilon by Du Pont. These complexes of a C to C fatty acid and chromium when cured on a substrate form polymeric coatings which impart water-repellancy and release properties to the substrate. Illustrative of other release coatings, which, although not as suitable for the present invention as the aforementioned, yet nevertheless can be used, are acrylic coatings, polyvinyl chloride coatings and acrylonitrilemutadiene coatings, either alone or in combination with any of the known release agents. Typical of such release agents for release coating compositions are those mentioned in U.S. Pats. 2,914,167, 3,282,727, and 3,240,330. Such materials include, for example, higher alkylacrylates and methacrylates, stearmaides, alkyl amine salts and amides of polybasic inorganic acids, arylene diamides, amide amine salts of ethylene/maleic anhydride copolymers, etc.

The release compositions are applied to the flexible sheet material by any of the conventional methods. In general, a coating weight in the range of about 0.01 to 10 lbs. per 3000 square feet of sheet material can be employed. I have found a coating range of between about 0.2 and 1 lb. per 3000 sq. ft. of sheet material to be perferred when employing a silicone rubber release coating. A coating weight ranging between about 0.04 and 0.08 lb. per 3000 sq. ft. of sheet material is preferred when a fatty acid-chromium complex release coating is employed. If desired, a primer coat or precoat of, for example, urea formaldehyde, butadiene styrene rubber, nitrocellulose, etc., can be applied to the flexible sheet material prior to application of the release composition to reduce penetration of the release coating.

In addition to covering sub-floors, it is obvious that my method can be employed in the application of surface coverings to walls or any other building structures wherein an easy and inexpensive method of removing the surface covering at a subsequent time is desired.

It is claimed:

1. In a building structure, the combination comprising a permanent sub-floor or sub-wall base; a flexible sheet material having an upper and a lower surface, said lower surface being adhesively secured to said base, said upper surface having a coating of a release composition thereon; and a layer of floor or wall surface covering material strongly adhered to said release coated upper surface of said flexible sheet material by a layer of adhesive to maintain said covering material in position over an extended period of time; said surface covering material with said layer of adhesive peeling and separating from said upper release-coated surface at the interface between said layer of adhesive and said upper release-coated surface in preference to elsewhere in said combination and leaving said upper release-coated surface of said flexible sheet material free of adhesive.

2. The building structure of claim 1 wherein said flexible sheet material is an impregnated fibrous sheet.

3. The building structure of claim 2 wherein the adhesive employed to secure said fibrous sheet material to said base surface, and said surface covering to said release composition, contains butadiene-acrylonitrile copolymer.

4. The building structure of claim 1 wherein said release composition contains a member selected from the group consisting of silicone rubber and a water-soluble fatty acid-chromium complex.

5. In a building structure, the combination comprising a permanent sub-floor or sub-wall base; a flexible sheet material having an upper and a lower surface, said lower surface being adhesively secured to said base, said upper surface having a coating of a release composition thereon, said release composition containing a member selected from the group consisting of silicone rubber and a water-soluble fatty acid-chromium complex; and a layer of floor or wall surface covering material strongly adhered to said release coated upper surface of said flexible sheet material by a layer of adhesive to maintain said covering material in position over an extended period of time, said surface covering with said layer of adhesive peeling and separating from said upper release-coated surface at the interface between said layer of adhesive and said upper release-coated surface in preference to elsewhere in said combination and leaving said upper release-coated surface of said flexible sheet material free of adhesive.

6. The building structure of claim 5 wherein said silicone rubber is an organopolysiloxane.

7. The building structure of claim 6 wherein said organopolysiloxane is catalyzed with a metal organic salt and subsequently cured.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,274,848 3/1942 Pennell 16l406 2,371,049 6/ 1945 Hazeltine 16l406 2,491,530 12/1949 Stubblebine 161406 2,537,036 l/1951 Colbeth 16l256 3,192,100 6/1965 Morgan 1 61-406 3,394,799 7/1968 Ritson et a1. 16l406 3,565,750 2/1971 Evans 161-406 GEORGE F. LESMES, Primary Examiner W. R. DIXON, JR., Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. XJR. 

